United Left Alliance wins all four seats in JNU student union election

The United Left Alliance has retained all four seats in the Jawaharlal Nehru University student union election, defeating the RSS-backed ABVP by considerable margins.

However, ABVP was seen celebrating ‘moral’ victory as Saket Bahuguna, the ABVP’s national media convener, said that the ABVP is now the single largest student organization in JNU.

“Now, with more than 4,000 votes together on four central panel posts, the ABVP is the single largest student organization in JNU. We also won 10 councilor seats, which is the highest for a single organization. The ABVP swept almost all seats in the Science schools,” he added.

Here’s is the final result of the elections.

For President:

Geeta Kumari (Left Unity) – 1506 votes

Nidhi Tripathi (ABVP) – 1042 votes

Shabana Ali (BAPSA) – 935 votes

For Vice President:

Simon Zoya Khan (Left Unity) – 1876 votes

Durgesh Kumar (ABVP) – 1028 votes

Subodh Kunwer (BAPSA) – 910 votes

For General Secretary:

Duggirala Srikrishna (Left Unity) – 2082 votes

Nikunj Makwana (ABVP) – 975 votes

Karam Bidyanath Khuman (BAPSA) – 854 votes

For Joint Secretary:

Shubhanshu Singh (Left Unity) – 1755 votes

Pankaj Keshari (ABVP) – 920 votes

Vinod Kumar (BAPSA) – 862 votes

What makes JNU elections stand out?

Even after so many years of its establishment, JNU still remains a role model for other universities. Here’s a look at what makes what goes behind the on screen political drama.

A research scholar pursuing Ph.D. in the School of Social Sciences(JNU) once questioned, “In how many universities today can children of working class people hope to contest and win an election without money being spent or goons being brought in to deter rivals?” and this sums up the political culture in JNU.

There are two things that highlight the uniqueness of this university – its freedom from money and muscle, and its propensity to see ideological debates and dissent as an integral part of politics.

At a time when market-oriented technical education and mass copying with demotivated teachers and students prevails, JNU looks like an oasis in a desert. This is possibly the only university that still retains a culture of critical learning.

The contribution of JNU to Indian politics could be summed up by looking back at the leaders they have produced. This culture of debate has not just produced bright leaders from the left camp like Sitaram Yechury and Prakash Karat, but also ideologically helped the Hindutva camp.

The BJP’s journals and publications department convenor Shiv Shakti Bakshi, who was RSS-affiliate ABVP’s JNU unit president more than a decade back, has a Ph.D. from the university. Even the RSS mouthpiece Organiser’s Editor Prafulla Ketkar is from the JNU and has an ABVP background.